Google Changing Advertisers Trademark Policy

5 Aug 2010

Google is changing its policy to allow some advertisers to use trademarks which they do not own in their ad text.

The search engine originally changed its policy in the US last year and is now extending it to Canada, the UK and Ireland.

Google claimed the change had helped both users and advertisers, "For example, resellers of jeans have been able to highlight the actual brands they sell in their ad text," said Dan Stokeley, product manager at Google.

The company has also updated its policy to allow advertisers across Europe to select trademarks as keywords, which will come into force after 14 September 2010.

"Our aim is to provide as much useful information to users as possible so that they can make better informed decisions. We believe these changes to the ad policy in Canada, UK and Ireland and our keyword policy change across Europe fits perfectly with this aim," said Stokeley.

This follows a ruling from the European Court which found that Google cannot be held liable for trademark infringement when advertisers choose keywords related to existing brands.

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